Might have the most dangerous YAC group since Green Bay a few seasons ago I think. I like that the article mentions Seattle has a group all entering their prime years starting this season. We can really destroy the perimeter of a defense with athleticism as well.

Still need to sort out a few things:Big possession WR depth if Rice goes down, hopefully Harper gets some reps early for later in the season.

Baldwin gets back to form.

Utilizing the TE position more effectively in passing situations. (An O-line pass protection issue, with better base protection from Breno and Sweezy/whoever, Miller and McCoy can find more spots to make an impact)

While much of the league tends to be "pass heavy", the Hawks are more balanced. It is our "running game" that wears teams down by the 4th quarter...then we can pass the ball with greater ease with the WR's, TE's and backs getting more separation. Then again, it may just be a figment of my imagination.

I can't beleive that Dameshek would even say that the 49ers have the best WR corps. They have basically Crabtree and Boldin as their only WR weapons and then they have Davis @ TE . Those 3 are good but there isn't alot of depth for the 49ers.

They lost their 4th and 5th leading catchers from this past year in Moss and Walker and their 3rd best option Mario Manningham is coming off a serious injury and may or may not be ready this coming year. If the rookies- Mcdonald (TE), Patton (WR) as well as 2012 1st rounder Jenkins all come out and contribute than the depth will be better. But that's far from a certainty.

jlwaters1 wrote:I can't beleive that Dameshek would even say that the 49ers have the best WR corps. They have basically Crabtree and Boldin as their only WR weapons and then they have Davis @ TE . Those 3 are good but there isn't alot of depth for the 49ers.

They lost their 4th and 5th leading catchers from this past year in Moss and Walker and their 3rd best option Mario Manningham is coming off a serious injury and may or may not be ready this coming year. If the rookies- Mcdonald (TE), Patton (WR) as well as 2012 1st rounder Jenkins all come out and contribute than the depth will be better. But that's far from a certainty.

I tell you what....we'll know soon enough! September 15th will be the "Battle of the Titans"! If there isn't at least one fight in that game...I'll be disappointed!!

I think Atlanta is clearly #1, then Denver is probably next. I think Seattle is comfortably top 10.

I don't think I can resist bashing Dave Dameshek's list. I guess to him, having several average receivers makes your unit great, as evidenced by having Tennessee 5th and SF 1st. Crabtree and Boldin are quality possession receivers but they don't require defenses to adjust or game plan. Manningham had one big catch in the playoffs but hasn't been remarkable otherwise. Vernon Davis seemingly always starts well every season then vanishes.

I don't think Seattle's targets are THAT great, but I think even a lot of 49ers fans would give Seattle the nod at WR/TE right now.

jlwaters1 wrote:I can't beleive that Dameshek would even say that the 49ers have the best WR corps. They have basically Crabtree and Boldin as their only WR weapons and then they have Davis @ TE . Those 3 are good but there isn't alot of depth for the 49ers.

They lost their 4th and 5th leading catchers from this past year in Moss and Walker and their 3rd best option Mario Manningham is coming off a serious injury and may or may not be ready this coming year. If the rookies- Mcdonald (TE), Patton (WR) as well as 2012 1st rounder Jenkins all come out and contribute than the depth will be better. But that's far from a certainty.

I tell you what....we'll know soon enough! September 15th will be the "Battle of the Titans"! If there isn't at least one fight in that game...I'll be disappointed!!

I don't know, if it were up to me, I would say the Seahawks are easily Top 5 perhaps the Best In Show, top to bottom, if they play up to their utmost potential. They didn’t even add Miller and McCoy to our WR group, they aren’t sexy but both of them combined to make plenty of plays, and both should be better as all of our WRs should:

1) WRs are only as good as their QB: A lot of us seem to forget, that Russell Wilson was merely a rookie, last season, he wasn't an established veteran. That Wilson competed on 1/3rd reps with the incumbent starter, Tarvaris Jackson and the well-paid free-agent Matt Flynn. And unlike rookies like Luck and Griffin, Wilson didn't benefit having his offense tailored to him well before even being drafted. Wilson also didn't benefit from having admirable veterans WRs like Reggie Wayne or Santana Moss smoothing along his transition to the league. Unfortunately, Wilson had to EARN everything. He had to earn the starting role, and then had to earn his teammates’ TRUST and RESPECT. Once Wilson got the team to rally behind him as its leader, he could establish and develop the needed CHEMISTRY that is the symbiotic relationship between QB and WR…

It took almost half a season for everyone to get on the same page partly because the O-line couldn’t stop interior pressure from the Right Side. Seahawks were a run first team and ran the ball more than any team in the NFL. Wilson had only 393 pass attempts, by far, the lowest of any starting QB, that completed all 16 games. However, Wilson was still one of the most efficient QBs in the NFL last season and one of the best at spreading the ball all around the field.

What can we expect in 2013? If Wilson came in and played with the poise of an established veteran, as a rookie, one could assume that the chemistry between him and his receivers is going to be accelerated to the equivalent of a decade-long bond of a Hall of Fame career. ;-) Realistically, it should be much, much better with little to no growing pains.

2) The Harvin Effect:

Last season, Rice and Tate were two of the most efficient wide outs in the NFL in terms of production per target.

Rice: 80 Targets: 50 catches, 15.0 ypc, 37 1st downs, 11 catches of 20+ yards, 7 TDs. 72 players in the NFL had more targets in the NFL, easily the least out of all starting flankers.

Even with the Seahawks WRs being some of the most efficient players in the NFL on a per target basis, there were definitely two things the Seahawks WRs struggled with and that was creating separation on a consistent basis in the short to intermediate passing game as well as strong down-field ability to the middle of the field (until late in the season)… to fix that problem Seahawks traded for uber-dynamic Percy Harvin, drafted big, athletic receivers w/ plenty of speed in WR Chris Harper (6’1, 234, 4.45 40) and TE Luke Willson (6’5, 250, 4.5 40). Not to mention retaining WR Stephen Williams (6’4, 210, 4.5 40).

While it would be premature to talk about what impact Harper, Willson, and Williams could bring to the Seahawks offense, everyone in the NFL knows the impact Harvin should create for the Seahawks: Harvin’s slippery quickness and elite athleticism is a catastrophically ankle-breaking recipe for separation in the short to intermediate passing game, and Harvin’s sub-elite downfield ability should mesh well with Wilson’s ability to buy time for a barrage of deep, critical airstrikes.

Harvin’s presence is the Domino effect where his influence on the field, and the mismatches he creates will provide more opportunities to the other WRs specifically Rice and Tate. Defenses no longer can double coverage or shade defenders taking Rice and Tate out of games at times. And the middle of the field will be more open, with defenders in a constant state of panic with our even stronger Power Running game, Wilson’s read option ability, and Harvin’s elite YAC ability in the short to intermediate passing game.

In 2012, Seahawks already had a quality group of WRs with just Rice, Tate, Baldwin (2nd half of season) and Miller alone. In 2013, add an off-season of Russell Wilson now in FULL control and one year wiser, a dynamic play-maker in Harvin who makes everyone better, another dynamic play-maker coming into his own in Tate, a much healthier Baldwin, and a still improving McCoy all in contract years, all competing for playing time plus the Seahawks bevvy of inexperienced but big, athletic, and fast receivers to round out the group… you’re looking at a lot of great talent already on the field, and a lot of potentially dangerous talent in development that few teams can match top to bottom.

We could see the evolution of the offense as the season progressed. A couple things I'm looking for this season:

Wrinkles in the offense. Percy Harvin will add most of these, but the Seahawks have shown a propensity to be creative on offense, especially as the players got used to eachother. I completely agree with P.H.'s post above; Wilson should really only get better this year. Most people outside the organization either don't know, or haven't addressed his split reps all the way through TC. With all the 1st team reps, I expect things to improve.

Player development. Part of it is familiarity as I just stated, but typically WRs, TEs and QBs only get better the more time they spend together. If we can actually release Miller into routes, it's going to be amazing how productive he will be. We're talking Pro Bowl caliber here. Looking at guys like Tate and how he progressed, you wonder if it was his progression and the lights just clicking on, Wilson's progression and familiarity with Tate, or both. Personally, I think Tate can get even better, but if you get the same production out of him (7-9 TD's and great YAC) it will be enough with the addition of Harvin and Rice looking like he can stay durable.

The full offense for a year. This has been stated ad nauseum, but I'm really anticipating seeing this offense run for an entire year the way it did in the 2nd half of the year. Seriously, looking at the 2nd half, it's scary to think we can actually improve.

this is where it's at.. it's all about the match ups.. ATL clearly #1, but yet they were shut down by our boys for the most part..

Our recievers against the niners DB's, we're clearly stronger.. they're recievers against our DB's, we're clearly stronger.. the combination of our recievers and DB's is going to be a tough match up for most teams, then throw lynch and RW in the mix, well let's say, it could be a very exciting year.

I haven't followed DD's career too closely, but I remember when Fabiano was the entire fantasy department for NFL.com and NFL Network. It was all sensible, reasoned fantasy analysis and not much conversation.

Then they realized they were alienating the "kinda goofy, kinda dumb" fantasy players (enter Adam Rank) and the "gut-feeling" players (enter Dameshek). IMO, that's his best role: the one guy who offers an impulsive, contrary opinion for the sake of discussion. I tend to regard nearly all of his analysis as wrong. However illogical, though, at least he's able to do it without being a canker sore on the lip of humanity like a Bayless.